Bang!
Accompanied by a strong gust of wind, Butterfly was violently hurled backward. But just as she was about to hit the ground, an invisible force suddenly locked her limbs and yanked her back with a jerk.
“Ugh!”
Mid-air, Butterfly spat out a mouthful of fresh blood and stared, horrified, at Yu Shiran, who stood firmly on the ground ahead.
The little girl was slightly lowering her head, her eyes eerily shut… Her doll-like right hand was still frozen in the posture of delivering a strike, but five starkly white fingers were now dripping with crimson blood.
“Wait, is that… my blood?”
As her body was swiftly pulled toward Yu Shiran, Butterfly froze in realization.
“How… How could this happen? I should have been able to dodge that… Oh, right, it’s these threads binding my hands and feet… I can’t break free. They don’t feel like ordinary weapons…” She tried twisting her wrists, only to find that the threads had deeply embedded into her flesh. “So, she allowed me to attack her on purpose? But why didn’t my attack work? Against a child like her, that amount of force should’ve been enough to cause severe injury…”
Butterfly’s vision blurred momentarily before she turned her gaze to her chest.
“So hot… What’s happening to me? She only moved her hand, right? I reinforced my chest in time. With her level of ability, she shouldn’t have been able to…”
What she saw was a bright crimson stain. After a moment of shock, it dawned on her.
“Ah!”
It was blood, her own blood, flowing from her body!
That little girl had merely pushed her with her hand, yet somehow, it had pierced through her skin and muscle without her even realizing it.
Just one push!
If she had continued dodging, this might not have happened…
But the moment she chose to engage, she had exposed her greatest flaw!
And yet, if she had done nothing but evade, how long could she have lasted…
This little girl… Is she an Enhancement Ability user? No… If she were, her palms should’ve undergone some kind of transformation. But that hand… it was still so fair and delicate, not showing even a trace of exertion. And yet, against her pale, tender flesh, that blood looked so striking and sharp…
“If they sent someone to investigate, then if it’s not a mental ability superhuman, it should be the weakest one, right? I originally thought that creature was the main scout, and this little girl was just a convenient target. But… how can she be so powerful? My speed… my reaction time… are they no match for a single strike from her?”
These thoughts flashed wildly through Butterfly’s mind. By the time her eyes widened again, the distance between her and Yu Shiran had shrunk to barely three meters.
The little girl, who had been keeping her head lowered, suddenly raised it sharply at this moment and spoke angrily:
“I’ve been meaning to say this for a while now… I am not some ‘little sister,’ you foolish human!”
Her outstretched hand remained motionless, yet Butterfly, like a moth darting into a flame, found herself powerless to resist as she was drawn straight toward it… 𐍂аŊ𝐎฿ƐŚ
Squish!
A soft yet chilling sound echoed as Butterfly’s body stiffened instantly. The next second, all strength seemed to drain from her, and she crumpled slowly. Her knees buckled, hitting the ground, her arms fell limply to her sides, yet her trembling gaze remained locked on the little girl’s hand buried in her chest.
As Yu Shiran slowly stepped back, her small, slender hand slid out inch by inch.
Butterfly managed to raise her eyelids slightly and glanced at the little girl’s face. She struggled to part her lips.
“Ga…rrgh…”
A surge of blood gushed up her throat. With her body trembling violently, she suddenly lurched forward, her upper body collapsing face-first onto the ground.
Blood poured out in streams beneath her, spreading rapidly as her body convulsed uncontrollably. Her wide-open eyes remained fixed in an expression of disbelief…
Clack.
The red leather shoes lingering within Butterfly’s line of sight shifted slightly, then took two small steps back.
“Let’s go.”
The little girl’s faint and indistinct voice rang out from somewhere above her, followed by the sight of those red shoes turning and disappearing swiftly from view…
“Let’s… go? But… clearly… she was alone… Oh, wait, she’s not human… she’s…”
Butterfly’s face gradually sank into the pool of blood beneath her. The butterfly-shaped mark on her forehead was splattered with blood, exuding a twisted, menacing presence.
At the other end of the alley, a sharp-eyed, cold-faced man stood amidst a cluttered space.
This man was clearly one of the survivors in the group, and, as Miao Zhe had reported on an earlier occasion, he was the one responsible for giving orders to leverage Ling Mo and the others. Without a doubt, this was the Boss Butterfly and her comrades had referred to.
Compared to Ling Mo, who was also a “Boss,” this man exuded a far stronger air of authority. Not only was he dressed in a spotless beige trench coat, but he also wore a pair of polished leather shoes that gleamed under the dim light.
At his feet lay a few toppled-over trash cans, scattered in disarray. On the side, an ajar back door swayed slightly in the breeze.
After glancing at the trash cans for a moment, the man turned his gaze toward the back door.
The door was still gently rocking, and there were clear marks on the frame, as if something had forcefully pushed against it…
However, just as he was about to step forward and enter, his movements came to an abrupt halt. His eyes shifted toward the far end of the alley.
“Butterfly?”
He stood motionless for a few seconds before his expression turned cold, and he slowly redirected his gaze.
This time, he looked toward a small building nearby and muttered to himself, “Encountering our kind is rare enough… who would’ve thought it’d be such trouble? But this is good-things like this only make me more confident.”
Reaching out, he plucked a strand of white fur caught in the doorframe and held it up to inspect it.
Just then, a smirk crept onto the corner of his lips. Without warning, he twisted his body sharply and raised his leg to deliver a powerful kick upward.
Whoosh!
A sharp whistle split the air as his foot collided with a massive force. At the same time, a blur of white flashed past his eyes. But the moment the impact subsided, the alley was silent once more-with only him standing there.
“Trying to stall me, are you? A futile effort… I’m on a tight schedule.”
After saying this, the man didn’t spare the door another glance. Instead, he suddenly tilted his head back and looked upward.
With a firm stomp on the ground, he leapt into the air, landing squarely on the back door. Using the momentum, he propelled himself onto the balcony above.
As his feet touched the railing, he pulled his hands out of his coat pockets. In them were two heavy, metallic implements.
They were unmistakable: iron hooks-the kind typically found on cranes used for hoisting large, industrial objects.
The moment those hooks appeared, a disturbing aura immediately radiated from the man.
It wasn’t just the sight of the corroded hooks, speckled with something that looked like rust-it was the overwhelmingly intense scent of blood emanating from them…